Defining gender identities and sexual orientations

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When it comes to the 2LGBTQIA+ acronym, a lot of people are confused; many question why the acronym is ever evolving and why it needs to be as long as it is. Some people advocate for an even longer acronym; some people want to ditch it entirely; some want to change it to make it more “catchy”.

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Although there is no consensus on the matter, it’s important to understand what each “letter” means and why it’s important to make some of them particularly visible.

Here are some non-comprehensive definitions of the letters that compose the 2LGBTQIA+ acronym:

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• 2 (sometimes 2S): refers to Two-Spirit, a term solely for Indigenous people that can refer to either sexual orientation, gender identity or both. It’s important to note that the term “Two-Spirit” is an umbrella term; each Indigenous community has different terms that encompass a wide array of sexual orientations and gender identities. Although this letter can be found in different versions of the acronym, the reason for placing it at the beginning of the acronym is to recognize that Indigenous communities across the world have historically been very accepting of people of diverse gender identities and sexual orientations, as well as to recognize and acknowledge the negative impact of colonialism on those inclusive practices and societies.
   

• L: refers to lesbian, a term usually employed to define the sexual orientation of women who love women, although people of various gender identities relate and identify with the term. Its position in the acronym as one of the first letters is not accidental; it comes from a desire to acknowledge the way the lesbian community showed up to support gay men at the height of the AIDS epidemic, when it was forbidden for people of the same sex to be by the bedside of their lovers and life partners in hospitals and healthcare facilities across North America.
   

• G: refers to gay, a term that is sometimes specifically used to refer to men who love men, but also women who love women and people of various gender who love people of the same gender. Since the term refers to a particular sexual orientation for people who love people of the same gender, many people criticize its use as an umbrella term for the 2LGBTQIA+ community as over simplistic and exclusionary.
   

• B: refers to bisexual, a term that refers to people who are attracted to more than one gender. Although previous and outdated definitions of bisexuality have focused on its meaning as people who are attracted to both men and women, not all bisexual people are. Moreover, bisexuality and pansexuality are two very distinct sexual orientations. Bisexual refers to people who are attracted to people of more than one gender, whereas pansexual refers to people who are attracted to people regardless of their gender identity.
   

• T: can refer to trans, transgender and transsexual gender identities. Each of these identities bears different connotations; the term “trans” is the most used currently, as it is perceived as being more inclusive and neutra than other terms, who are not everyone’s to reclaim and can be slurs when used by people who do not identify with those identities (such as the words transsexual, transvestite, tranny, to name a few).
   

• Q: refers to both queer and questioning. In the past few decades, many people have reclaimed the term “queer”, which used to be a slur and derogatary term for people who do not conform, whether in their sexual orientation, gender identity or gender presentation, to what society defines as normal (commonly referred to as cis-hetero-normativity). The “Q” also refers to “questioning”, as a way to include people who do not know yet how to define their sexual orientation or gender identity and are questioning whether they really are cisgender and/or heterosexual.
   

• I: refers to intersex, a term used for people who are born with sexual characteristics and reproductive organs that do not conform to the male and female binaries. Many intersex people experience violence early in their lives in order to “correct” those differences as to have them conform to the sex binary. There surgical procedures are still common practice and almost always done without intersex people’s consent, at the request of the parents and recommendation of many doctors.
   

• A: refers to asexual and aromantic (often shortened to “ace”), terms for people who do not experience sexual and/or romantic attraction in the same way as allosexual people (people who experience sexual and/or romantic attraction). It’s important to mention that asexuality and a-romantism are spectrums; they are also not always related to sexual desire and whether an asexual person will have sex or not or whether an aromatic person will be in a relationship or not.
   

• +: the “+” sign is used as a way to signify that the acronym is not an end in and of itself, and an acknowledgement of the way gender identities and sexual orientations are expansive, plural, and cannot be limited to a few letters or boxes. The use of the “+” sign is sometimes criticized as being reductive and dismissive of some identities.

A few other sexual orientations and gender identities worth mentioning and defining:

• Non binary: an umbrella term that refers to people whose gender identity falls outside of the binary of man and woman. Non binary identities fall under the “trans” umbrella, although not all non binary people identify as trans, and trans people can experience gender in a binary way.
   

• Gender assigned at birth and Assigned male / female at birth: a way to refer to someone’s gender that was assigned at birth based on physical observations only, before the person was able to express what their gender actually is. The word cisgender, or cis, refers to someone whose gender assigned at birth conforms to their gender identity, whereas the word transgender, or trans, refers to someone whose gender assigned at birth differs from their gender identity.
   

• Sex: refers to physical male and female sexual characteristics. Though it’s easy to read sex as a male / female binary, sexual characteristics and genomic makeup are extremely diverse, with endless combinations and phenotypes.
   

• Gender: a social construct distinct from sex and sexual characteristics, which relates to the ways a person’s identity relates to society and various gender roles.
   

• Gender presentation: the way a person expresses or not their gender identity through appearance, clothing, etc. Someone’s gender presentation can align or not to their gender identity and does not in any way invalidates the latter (for example, a non binary person is still non binary even their gender presentation is feminine or masculine, a woman is still a woman even if they present as masculine).
   

• Gender nonconforming: can be used for any person, regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity, whose gender presentation does not conform to traditional roles and expectations.
   

• Pronouns: words that refer to someone, and can be related to their gender identity, although pronouns are not necessarily indicative of someone’s gender. The most common pronouns are she/her/hers, he/him/his and they/them/theirs, although many other pronouns (often called “neopronouns”) exist and are used by different people, and are just as valid as mainstream pronouns. It’s worth mentioning that it’s better to use the phrase “personal gender pronouns” over “preferred gender pronouns”, as the latter can be construed as a choice, when pronouns and gender identity are not a preference and are part of someone’s identity.
   

• Femme: a word used by 2LGBTQIA+ people whose gender presentation mostly aligns with femininity.
   

• Masc: a word used by 2LGBTQIA+ people whose gender presentation mostly aligns with masculinity.
   

• Androgynous: a word used by 2LGBTQIA+ people whose gender presentation mostly does not align with either femininity or masculinity.